OPINION: Raptors’ DeRozan, Lowry outplayed by counterparts in loss

By Michael Grange, Sportsnet

In the moments after one of the most disappointing defeats in recent Raptors memory, Drake was giving out hugs. He hugged Kyle Lowry’s mom. He hugged Lou Williams’ mom. He hugged anyone who needed one.

One day he might write a sad song about broken hearts and crushed hopes – well another one, anyway – and it could be about what happened at the ACC on April 21, 2015.

It takes a lot to bring crushing disappointment upon Raptordom. It really does. This is a team that finished in the middle of the NBA in attendance when they went 22-60 and were led by Andrea Bargnani in scoring back in 2010-11.

This is a team that is 0-7 in their opening games of seven first-round playoff series, four of those times as the higher seed. This is a team that counts as the high-point of its 20-year history a seven-game, second-round series that they lost.

This is a fan base which, in good times — like these are supposed to be — will stand outside by the thousands in weather that was severe enough to delay Drake getting to the game, as was the case before Game 2 at the Air Canada Centre.

There have been a lot of lows, but getting crushed 117-106 — the final score was much more flattering than what happened on the floor — by the Washington Wizards to fall behind 0-2 in their first-round series has to be on the shortlist of the lowest of the low moments.

There was plenty of brave talk about being able to reverse the tide as the series switches to Washington for two games beginning Friday night, but history weighs heavily against them. The home team has lost the first two games of a seven-game series 29 times in NBA history as the Raptors just did. Only three of those 29 teams has ever come back to win the series.

Lowry was asked after another personal performance so below his standard it was almost unrecognizable how falling behind 0-2 and playing so poorly compared to missing the potential game-winner at the end of Game 7 in their first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets a year ago.

“I’d say I feel shittier right now,” he said.

Losing is one thing, but it was more than just one game, or two.

First it was a brutal loss because of what it means: On a very basic level the Raptors are in an almost impossible situation should they hope to advance to the second round. They have to win four of their next five games with three on the road against a Wizards team that can smell a sweep.

Paul Pierce ran to the locker-room revealing the depth of their motivation by shouting: “I don’t want to go through customs no more,” according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post.

But the loss also signifies something more. In Game 1 the Raptors were manhandled on the boards as the bigger, stronger Wizards snatched 19 offensive rebounds, the key to their win. That Toronto’s most expert jump shooters couldn’t hit water from a boat didn’t help, but the thinking was that was temporary.

In Game 2 the Wizards had 10 offensive rebounds, which was an improvement, but not much when you figure that they missed only 37 shots last night, compared to the 60 they missed in the brick-fest Saturday. Overall Toronto was outrebounded 45-28, which is not good.

Of a greater concern was that their all-star backcourt of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry were the second-best backcourt on the floor. By a margin.

The younger, faster version offered up by Washington — Bradley Beal and John Wall — had their way with their counterparts. Wall dominated like a No.1 overall pick should as he finished with 26 points and 17 assists on 16 shots. The Raptors had no answer for him. His partner Beal, just 21 years old, looked like a young Ray Allen, as he finished with a career playoff-high of 28 points. And just for fun Otto Porter — also 21 — had 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Lowry looked like a shadow of the player that led the Raptors’ surprising run to the playoffs a year ago and surged to his first all-star game this year, in his ninth season. He keeps insisting he’s healthy but he was in foul trouble again and finished with six points and four assists and is now shooting 5-of-20 over two games. That’s twice as many fouls as field goals.

DeRozan? A pedestrian 20 points, the bulk of them accumulated after the game was beyond doubt.

In Game 1 the Wizards exposed the Raptors’ weakness. In Game 2 they cast a shadow over the team’s supposed strength. Even a first-half cameo from talisman James Johnson – to standing ovation no less – had no impact.

“They’re playing well,” said Lowry. “They really got their guards [running] downhill, they set some great screens and they played with some place and some tempo tonight.”

Wall and Beal talked afterwards about how chippy the game was and how physical the Raptors were trying to be with them. Beal went so far as to accuse the Raptors of trying to “punk” them in his halftime interview for local television.

It was odd because Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said his team needed to hit more often and harder. “I see us getting knocked down going to the basket, I don’t see their guys hitting the floor,” he said. “I see them waltzing in, waving at us and laughing at us going to the basket and I don’t see us (knocking anyone down).

“That’s what I challenged the team after the game. We’ve got to make sure we hit somebody and make it count.”

The Raptors were trailing 60-49 at the half and used a 10-4 run to cut the Wizards’ lead to two points in the first four minutes of the half. But everything completely unravelled after that. The Wizards shot 13-of-17 in the third, including five-of-six from three to blow the Raptors out and take a 97-75 lead into the fourth quarter.

The crowd, for the most part, kept cheering, but maybe it was to keep from crying. One barometer of their team’s mental state was that in such a critical game they shot just 21-32 from the free-throw line. It was at those moments when the reality of what was happening hit them.

Before the game the Raptors’ predicament was in view, looming in the distance. Now it’s right in front of them.

Their second post-season together is nothing short of an audition to be part of something lasting in Toronto.

But it’s hard to imagine keeping this collection of players together if they fail to carry the higher seed into the second round for two straight years. Casey getting another crack at it could easily be in doubt.

So it was a big game. Early on the Raptors looked ready to play it. With Raptors nemesis Pierce covering him, DeRozan shook off screens and made a determined effort to show his elder – who he looked up to while growing up in the Los Angeles basketball scene – no respect. DeRozan hit his first four shots and helped the Raptors out to a 16-6 lead and a 31-26 edge after 12 minutes. Also helping was Jonas Valancuinas who finished the first quarter with eight points and four rebounds in his first nine minutes. A good omen? A year ago when the Raptors won Game 2, DeRozan had 30 and Valancuinas had 15 points and 14 rebounds.

But as the game went along the question was simply if the Raptors were collectively quick enough to keep up with the Wizards’ young and electric backcourt of Beal and Wall. It doesn’t look like they are.

The Raptors ran into trouble when their hot start cooled and in particular when Lowry picked up his second and third fouls in quick succession. The Raptors were up 35-29 when Lowry got whistled for what – at worst – was an inadvertent trip of Wall. Ten seconds later an iffy reach-in forced Casey to lift him and the Raptors first half unravelled.

Even with Johnson, the crowd favourite, in the game the Wizards unfurled a 22-6 run sparked by Washington’s backcourt.

Pierce didn’t having quite the impact he had in Game 1 – he had 10 points on 2-of-7 shooting – but his words after Washington’s first win rang true:

“It’s about having that greedy attitude, that selfish attitude,” he said. “If you can get two games on the road against an opponent who has homecourt advantage it really breaks their back.”

The Raptors’ fate remains in their hands but after Game 2 it seems a lot murkier, and the Raptors, if not broken, are limping. Maybe some hugs from Drake might help, but once the ball goes up in Game 3 they’re on their own.

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